


She must be new here

by Tiggerlily2213



Category: Batman - All Media Types, Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-14
Updated: 2021-03-18
Packaged: 2021-03-22 16:15:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,538
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30041361
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tiggerlily2213/pseuds/Tiggerlily2213
Summary: Marinette and Damian run into each other. Quite literally.
Relationships: Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug/Damian Wayne
Comments: 6
Kudos: 107





	1. Just a Friend

**Author's Note:**

> These are based on the Daminette December 2019 prompt list.

Damian had a hard time making and keeping friends. For starters, he didn’t even want friends. He felt they were a weakness and a distraction. The teachings drilled into his head by his mother and grandfather stayed with him even after six years away from them. Bruce had tried to get Damian to open up and meet new people, to give him a sense of normalcy after his horrible upbringing, but it had fallen short on many occasions. The big bat, who has taken down countless enemies and done extraordinary feats, couldn’t win against a stubborn teenager.

So, when Damian started his new school year at Gotham Academy, he was expecting the same old routine of quietly going about his classes and work, with no one acknowledging his presence at all or even making eye contact. They all had their friend groups and cliques, and therefore ignored the other people around them, only rarely ever welcoming a new member into their fold. He would never be a part of any of their groups and he decided he didn’t want to be. He was the best student at the school anyway.

On the first day of class, he walked the halls to his homeroom, deep in thought but still paying attention to his surroundings. He wasn’t born yesterday; he knew how to multi-task and to let people assume what he wants them too. It was in this state that a small, dark haired girl ran into him after stumbling in from the outside. Papers flew everywhere and books were dropped on certain feet, much to a boy’s annoyance. The girl immediately started apologizing, almost nonstop until they had collected all materials off the floor and Damian had put his hand up.

“It’s okay, you don’t have to keep apologizing. Here’s your book and a few more papers.” He placed them on the pile in her hands and got a look at the girl. Her hair was all over her face and her clothes were slightly skewed, but her blue eyes were stunning and her lightly freckled face gave off a shine. She must be new here, Damian thought. He would’ve remembered her face. 

“Thank you so much. And sorry, again. It’s my first day and all, and I don’t understand how huge this place is and I am so lost. Could you help me? I’m trying to find Mr. Borret’s homeroom and I don’t even know which hallway this is.” She looked with pleading eyes at Damian and he wasn’t going to say no anyway. He was Robin, with or without the suit. And Robin helped whoever he could.

“I’m heading there now. Here, let me carry some of your things and you can follow me.” Damian took some of her stuff and started walking, the girl following at his side. He suddenly remembered he hadn’t even introduced himself and his inner gentleman was scolding him right now. “By the way, I’m Damian. If you need more help around school, you can always just ask me. Though, since we have the same homeroom, we’ll probably have similar schedules.”

“Oh, that would be great! I would really like that. Oh! And my name is Marinette Dupain-Cheng. Nice to meet you, Damian.”

The rest of the week went by quickly as Marinette tried to remember the twisting passages that Damian showed her as they walked. Their schedules were indeed similar, and saved Marinette from many tardies. Damian had taken to waiting outside for her to arrive at the school, and walking together to the classes. During lunch breaks, he would guide her through the other hallways she never experienced, hoping to better help her navigate the school on her own. Her sense of direction, Damian soon found out, was skewed to the point that she got lost going to the bathroom one class period and he was excused to go find her. He once found her wandering the west wing of the school, when their class had taken place in the east wing. 

He was beginning to look forward to being with Marinette during the school day. She was funny and lighthearted and smart. She wanted to hang out with him and he was starting to see what his family had wanted him to have. They had wanted someone who would always be okay with the person he was and even though she knew nothing about his alter ego, over the course of the week, they had talked about a lot of different things. Apparently, she had traveled from France to come and live in America, because her parents wanted her to learn the language better in order to attend the university in Gotham. She was a designer and her sketches were highly detailed to the point of almost coming out of the page. She had also already started working with certain fashion labels. Damian soaked it all in and basked in the light of his friend. He had one, his first one, and he was going to make sure that he never did anything to jeopardize their relationship.

Marinette was grateful for Damian. Even though it was only the first week of classes in this whole new world that is America, she was already starting to feel a little less lonely in this vast country. She was almost glad that she ran into him on the first day. Her alarm clock had not yet been found in the boxes so she had been running slightly late, and she knew that if she ran, it would save her a few precious minutes. It ended up saving her so many more minutes because Damian had thankfully agreed to help her navigate the school, and an extra added bonus was his company. She did not want to be alone, but she knew that coming in halfway through high school meant that almost no clique would let her in because they already had their connections to each other.

He listened to her design ideas and asked questions about her fashion work and she was grateful for the interest. This was her passion and she loved talking about it. He also inquired about her life and how she came to be here and she happily shared her backstory. When she asked after his life though, he would be vague and say he lives with his father and three brothers. She didn’t want to ask about his mother because she didn’t want to run the risk of dredging up bad memories. She had them too, especially of a certain Italian, but she chose to focus on the happy memories, like baking with her friends, and having sleepovers with her girlfriends in order to plan the next time she would attempt to declare her love for Adrien. That was all in the past now; she had gotten over her crush for Adrien and had decided to pursue her career as a fashion designer in America. She would be happy here, she honestly hoped she would. And she would cherish this friendship with Damian with all her heart because she needed someone to look out for and for someone to look after her as well. She needed him. And he needed her. 


	2. Blind Date

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette and Damian try speed dating. It doesn't go well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this isn't actually what blind dating or speed dating looks like, but...fanfiction.

Marinette sighed as she glanced at the clock. She had been reading her biology book and studying for the test tomorrow for the last three hours and it was close to midnight. She flipped the book closed and decided to call it a night. She was checking through her email to make sure her teachers didn’t add anything unexpected this late in the night (not a high possibility, but she had learned Americans were weird beings) when she spotted a new email in her inbox. It was the details of a blind date event happening at the school over the weekend. The instructions were clear that no sexual actions of any kind were to happen at the dates, only a friendly sort of get-to-know-you scenario.

Marinette read through the rest of the email and then decided that a little fun over the weekend would be a nice change from school. She knew that Damian was a good friend to her, but she wanted to test the waters a little more. She had been here for a few weeks now, and she had a comfortable routine with Damian but she wanted to know if she could befriend anyone else. Maybe they could expand their group and have more friends. Marinette remembered her old classmates were all friends with each other (mostly, though Chloe had some moments here and there where she wasn’t a bad human). The class size had been much smaller in France than it was here at the academy, but the support system she had enjoyed was something she wanted to replicate here, if she could.

Most of the students didn’t take a second glance at her, and she was okay with that because she had Damian and he was usually there to talk to. However, if he wasn’t there, like he wasn’t there last Tuesday, she had no one and she felt very lonely and out of place at the school because no one wanted anything to do with her. They all had their own groups and they couldn’t care less about someone new coming in because they didn’t think them compatible with the group dynamic. Marinette simply wanted to get to know more people at her school and to somehow feel like less of an outsider. Was that too much to ask?

Saturday afternoon found a boy dressed in an immaculate black suit, waiting out in front of Gotham Academy for a certain french student to arrive halfway on time. When a petite girl in soft pink flats, a gossamer pink dress, and a matching purse barreled around the corner, the boy’s eyes raised slightly but made no comment. He wasn’t the least surprised.

“Well, at least you’re here.” Damian said and stepped aside so Marinette could enter the school. This was going to be an interesting night.

He had been asked by Marinette to come to this blind date thing with her and he had been slightly hurt. He thought he was enough for her and he thought he had somehow put their friendship in danger. Marinette was quick to explain though, that she just wanted to have a fun night as friends and try to see if she could make more friends. Damian had had a feeling, right there, that this was going to be a bad idea. His intuition was rarely wrong but he so hoped it would be this time. He did not want Marinette to be hurt and he wanted to make sure that she had the best experience at the school. He cannot, however, control the actions of others.

When they stepped into the gym, a few people had already arrived. They were clustered around some of the tables set up around the room, each complete with two seats, a vase of flowers, and a candle. Damian led Marinette to one of the tables so they could wait for the event to start. The sound of classical music started up after more people showed and a woman with a microphone stood at the far end of the gym. 

“Welcome, students. Tonight is about having fun and meeting new people  _ in a short amount of time _ . The girls will sit at one of the tables and the guys will be moving around to each one. Each round is 5 minutes long and when the timer buzzes, boys, you will move to the next table until everyone has met and talked with everyone else. NO SEXUAL CONDUCT OF ANY KIND! Alright, girls, grab a table and everyone get ready. Have fun!” The woman walked to a table on the side and set a timer for 5 minutes.

Damian walked to another table and sat down across from a brown haired girl, with brown eyes, a two piece black gown, and a glistening phone between her manicured nails. When the timer started, the girl glanced at Damian, sighed, and put her phone on the table. 

“So, what do you got? Any juicy details about your life worth knowing?” 

Damian could tell this girl would be so much fun to deal with right from her first two sentences. He merely shook his head and she sighed, picking up her phone again and ignoring him for the rest of the time. He glanced over at Marinette to see if she was having better luck. It didn’t seem like she was. He sighed. Definitely going to be a long night.

Marinette was trying really hard to get the boy in front of her to let her squeeze a word in, but he was a complete motor mouth, going on and on about his boats (as in, more than one), his golf career (nonexistent), and all the animals his family owned (let’s just say, holy cow). She eventually gave up and decided to just sit and listen as he talked about the family drama that a camel caused two years ago. When the 5 minutes were up, she was relieved to watch him go and was ready for someone else to come. She wanted this night to be a success and she wanted to make a good impression on everyone. However, as the night wore on, each boy cared less and less about her. She could tell they weren’t really listening to what she was saying when they kept trying to show her football clips and soccer shots. She was starting to wonder why this had been a good idea in the first place, when Damian sat across from her. She immediately perked up.

“Hey, stranger. Long time, no see. How are the girls so far?” Marinette rested her chin on her hand and looked at Damian expectantly.

“Some flirted, some stayed on their phones the whole time, and some were decent. I’m just here for you though, so I don’t think I made any new friends. How about you?”

“Yeah, same. I don’t think I made new friends either. I could possibly get my name in before they started showing me sports clips and talking about their lives. It has been so exhausting.” Marinette rested her head against the table and sighed. 

“Do you want to leave?” Damian sounded hesitant but Marinette didn’t want to stay here any longer. This had been a bad idea, and she saw now that the others just weren’t interested in making new friends when they already had their comfortable circle of friends. Marinette knew now that it had been a futile effort but she was now more sure of her friendship with Damian than ever. He listened to her, cared about her, and wanted the best for her. Too bad it took a bad blind dating experience to show her that.

Damian was glad that Marinette had wanted to leave. They stepped out into the chill night air and he walked her home. He was glad that he had her and he didn’t even care that the others didn’t care about him. He had someone who cared about him and that was enough, for both of them. 


End file.
